


grab me by my ankles, i’ve been flying for too long

by welcometogressenheller (nextyeardarling)



Series: (pl) sky full of song [1]
Category: Layton Kyouju Series | Professor Layton Series
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Azran Legacy Spoilers, Brother Feels, Gen, Late Night Talk onboard the Bostonius, desmond is being dramatic and pretty vague but can you really blame him, except not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25021342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nextyeardarling/pseuds/welcometogressenheller
Summary: Hershel sat up, stern face. Desmond couldn’t stand to look him in the eyes.“You look like there is something you want to say.”
Relationships: Hershel Bronev & Theodore Bronev, Hershel Layton & Desmond Sycamore
Series: (pl) sky full of song [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1811797
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20





	grab me by my ankles, i’ve been flying for too long

Much to his surprise, Desmond wasn’t the only insomniac on the Bostonius tonight. 

As he was approaching the wide living space, he noticed the light of a candle flash through the gloom interior - illuminating a person seated on the couch, huddled up behind a book.

Hershel Layton lifted his glance as he heard his footsteps. Then, he smiled.

“I reckon I’m not the only one sensitive to the local humid climate”, he said, softly. Desmond nodded silently, despite that this couldn’t be further from the truth. The truth was, he had hardly been able to get a good night’s rest ever since they had departed from Froenborg - too much had been occupying his mind as they were coming closer and closer to revealing the Azran’s final legacy. None of these headaches he would - _he could_ share with his companions, though.

“I picked up one of the books you had lying around - I sure hope you don’t mind? Although, I must admit”, Hershel chuckled, shaking the cover of one of Desmond’s publications, “It’s rather counterproductive. This read is quite the opposite of sleep-inducing. Of course, I have been fascinated with your writing before, it is mandatory reading for aspiring archaeologists in a sense, still - to find the person behind those witty paragraphs is just as admirable as… forgive me, I should not dwell on -- are you alright, Professor?”

His glance pierced through him. So much so that Desmond, for a second, panicked he might see directly through his disguise.

“Ah, excuse me, I must have gotten lost in thought for a bit.”

Silence pierced through the air ship’s interior and left him with a restless ringing in his ears. The atmosphere felt heavy, though not with humidity but rather with a sense of unsaid uncertainties.

Hershel sat up, stern face. Desmond couldn’t stand to look him in the eyes.  
“You look like there is something you want to say.”

Oh, there was. There was so unbearably much.

“The truth is”, Desmond said, “I have not been upfront with you from the beginning. I invited you and your friends here to aid me in my life-long quest for revenge on the azran - a twisted motive, yet hate is the furthest from what I feel being on this journey with you. It is the closest I have felt to being at home in what feels like forever. And if I am being honest, it scares me. My own pitiful sentimentalities are taking over me, even though I have sworn to leave them behind the day Desmond Sycamore became nothing more than an imposter. I have come so close to reaching my goal and at the same time, it’s the closest I have come to want to throw it all away. It’s naïve, isn’t it? Dismissing years’ worth of research and efforts because you’ve grown attached? To grow attached, painfully aware that all of this is deemed to go down in flames? You know, it would not be the first time for me to lose my family. Not even the second time. Both of my families were taken from me by Targent and subsequently, the Azran, which is why I have devoted my life’s work to seek revenge. It _would_ be the second time for us to be ripped apart, however. Maybe it is further prove of my selfishness to wish you would remember me. Then again, it does get terribly lonesome to be left alone, like this - existing in a vacuum of knowledge, burdened to prevail in a reality so vastly alien from yours, always looking out for you yet you fail to recognize your brother as your hand finally gets a grip of his after years and years of separation. It is true - that ever since the day our parents had been taken from us, I have promised to protect you with all my might - and I have failed you, brother, and I will fail you again. I would have loved to despise you, Hershel Layton, and believe me, I tried. But how could I when I look at you and all I see is my little brother who let go of my hands, terrified and small, who has come back to greet me as not only one of the greatest minds in history, but one of the kindest men I have ever known. I just now lied to you, again, since in reality, I have been up all these nights, wondering if this might have been all I have ever missed and what it would do to me to let you go once more. It is not even merely for you - it is for Emmy, and Luke, and Aurora, too. This little group of ours feels oddly like a family - and how I wish to make it last - just this once - for it might just be that I’ve been flying for too long.”

Except he didn’t say that. How could he ever, with his brother being right in front of him, only separated by the low coffee table between them, yet at the same time, Desmond felt like he was miles, realities, skies apart.

“There really isn’t anything I have to say to you”, Desmond said instead and it ached him to curl the corners of his mouth up to form the petty excuse of a smile. “Although, do you mind if I -- sit here for a while?”

Naturally, Hershel smiled up to him. “Of course not.”

Just this once, he would make it last.  
Let Jean Descole pursue his revenge, let Desmond Sycamore write his witty books - but let Hershel Bronev rest with his little brother.

Within minutes, Desmond fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> title from "sky full of song" by florence + the machine (a very good song you should listen to now you have read this one shot because there will be another one based on that exact song because i have one (1) writing playlist that keeps me in a limbo of bronev family feels) 
> 
> this isn't too deep and i am always very anxious about getting character's introspective to be in-character but i had fun with it so :) i hope you had too!


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